Journalist Who Doxed 'Libs of Tik Tok' Owner Handed Big Punishment from Elon Musk
Reflecting the change in the ebb and flow of power across social media now that Twitter is under the ownership of Elon Musk, the reporter who doxed the owner of the popular Twitter account “Libs of TikTok” has had her account suspended.
The suspension of Taylor Lorenz, who reports on technology issues for The Washington Post, took place Saturday.
The suspension of Lorenz follows the brief suspension of several journalists from The Washington Post, The New York Times and other outlets who were banned for a week, but then allowed back on Twitter after Musk conducted a poll in which the overwhelming majority wanted the journalists back on Twitter.
On her SubStack account, Lorenz blamed Musk and linked it to an unspecified article she was writing about him.
“Earlier tonight, Elon Musk suspended my Twitter account. I only had three tweets live on my account when it was banned. Two were promoting my social media profiles on other platforms (follow me on TikTok and IG @taylorlorenz!), and one was the tweet below where I asked Musk for comment,” she wrote.
The Substack post had the Twitter post attached that read, “We’ve learned some information that we’d like to share and discuss with you. We’re taking this very seriously and want to ensure this is pursued in the right way.”
“When I went to log in and see if he had responded to our query, I was suspended. I received zero communication from the company on why I was suspended or what terms I violated,” she wrote.
Lorenz had doxxed the woman behind the Twitter account “Libs of TikTok,” which documents how radically dangerous contemporary leftists are. Doxxing refers to making someone’s private information public. Musk indicated that the journalists he briefly suspended were guilty of that.
Lorenz insisted she has never broken Twitter’s terms of service.
She wrote that “Musk’s arbitrary suspensions of journalists who report on him should worry anyone who values journalism and free expression.”
“I won’t say I didn’t anticipate it,” Lorenz said, according to The Associated Press. She said she wasn’t given a specific reason for the ban.
Lorenz said she hopes for an explanation.
“I would love to hear from Elon,” she said.
Taylor Lorenz is complaining on Twitter spaces about being doxxed and harassed. The irony!
Also her contact at Twitter was fired 😂. No more special treatment! pic.twitter.com/pbmj3THv8e
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 16, 2022
In a Twitter Spaces call that happened after the bans, Lorenz complained that she was “doxed and harassed constantly” on Twitter. She said that, since Elon Musk has taken over the company, the doxing has continued; she’s “reported it, and the reports go nowhere.”
Lorenz noted that her contact at Twitter no longer worked there.
“The woman that I used to reach out to when this stuff happened at Twitter has been let go from Twitter,” she said. “And I just hear this from a lot of people.”
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